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Thirteen-year-old Nathanael never even held a camera before last month. Investing in camera equipment is hardly within the financial means of his struggling parents. But the Skinner Middle School student is spending his days this summer learning the art of digital photography.
“I don’t have anything like this at home,” said the boy, as he proudly showed off some of the images he’d captured around his neighborhood and downloaded onto a school computer, where he will compile them into a digital scrapbook.
“Barrio Photography” is one of three classes Nathanael takes every day at Denver-CAMP, an experimental six-week summer enrichment program Denver Public Schools is offering for students in fourth through eighth grade at two locations this year. The program especially targets children whose families are either homeless or living on very low incomes, and for whom summer inevitably means a lack of intellectual stimulation and a further widening of the academic achievement gap separating them from their more affluent classmates.
The programs, at Skinner in northwest Denver and at Rachel B. Noel Middle School in Montbello in far northeast Denver, are the result of a trial collaboration between the school district and 22 local nonprofit agencies, collectively known as the Denver Quality After-School Connection (DQUAC). The agencies – ranging from the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to junior tennis programs and sports academies - all provide some type of after-school activities for youngsters. But nothing on the scale of Denver-CAMP, and nothing so clearly focused on children who live in poverty.
“The idea is to create a collaborative model where a whole variety of agencies can offer a whole line of products to the kids,” says Catherine Wise, coordinator of special initiatives for DPS. “This is a really cost-effective way for these agencies to expand the population of kids they serve without overburdening them. They don’t have the responsibility of running a whole camp, but they provide a segment of the programming. It’s like a sampler for the kids to participate in. All these organizations contribute pretty substantially, but it’s not anything like trying to do it independently. The fact we’ve been able to build the infrastructure to support this is awesome.”
DPS provides the space and recruited the children from Skinner and Noel and their feeder schools. The programming is provided free-of-charge to the district by the various agencies.
Among the options the students participating the in the programs at both schools could choose from: hip-hop dance; soccer; photography; swimming; cooking; yoga; puppetry; computer science and programming; computer animation; robotics; art; environmental education; and board games.
In addition, students go on weekly field trips. They’ve been to museums, to the zoo, to libraries and to camps in the mountains and countryside where they’ve ridden horses and lassoed sheep.
“Some of these kids had never been out of town,” says Sandy Baca-Sandoval, the director of the Skinner Neighborhood Center during the school year, who is also directing the summer camp at Skinner. “Some of these kids have never been out of north Denver. Some of them had never seen a horse before. Our kids have never done archery or rowed a canoe. If I could change anything about this camp, I’d add more of that. I’d let these kids do more things they normally would never get to do.”
Nathanael thinks he’s just having fun – and avoiding another boring summer of sitting home and watching endless TV. But in truth, by learning about computers and digital cameras, he’s learning about geometry, about art, about leadership and team-building when he pairs off with other students to go in search of suitable photographic subjects, and he’s even improving his typing skills.
He’s also getting obesity-busting exercise as he walks through the neighborhood looking for photo-worthy scenes.
In short, he’s keeping both his brain and his body from turning to mush this summer – which is more than a lot of kids accomplish during June, July and August.
“They don’t see it as schoolwork,” says Amanda Wade, a volunteer instructor with Openworld Learning, a non-profit that provides after-school technical and computer classes at 15 DPS schools. She’s teaching computer programming to Denver-CAMP students this summer. “At first, they just play around. But it’s bringing back some of the work they do in school without the kids realizing it. It doesn’t seem like school to them.”
Nearly 300 DPS students will take part in the camp, which runs through July 18. It will provide not only intellectual and physical stimulation, but also free breakfast and lunch and supervised time in a safe environment. Bus passes are provided to students who don’t live within walking distance of the schools.
“Some of our homeless students have told me if they weren’t here, they’d be sitting in a Social Services office for six hours a day with their parents,” says Baca-Sandoval. “It’s hugely important for these kids to have a place to go. If they’re living in shelters, they have to leave by 7 or 8 in the morning, and they can’t go back until 6 in the evening. Where do they go? The park? The mall? This gives these kids a place to be that’s safe, where they can be kids. And their parents are grateful that they don’t have to worry about their kids during that time.”
DPS identified 1,302 homeless students as of the end of this past school year, up more than 20 percent from the year before. That includes 421 homeless students in grades four through eight. Many reside in shelters in central Denver or on the west side, and homeless children make up about a fifth of Denver-CAMP’s population.
But even those students whose families aren’t dealing with homelessness still struggle with a lack of opportunity for summer enrichment for their children. “Programs like this can cost up to $175 a week,” Wise said. “That creates a fairly limited opportunity if you don’t have those kinds of dollars.”
Students participating in Denver-CAMP pay nothing. And Wise acknowledges the school district didn’t screen families’ financial records to ensure only the neediest children gained admission. “But in our recruitment efforts, we made it clear to adults that we were trying to get this experience into the hands of kids who would have few other opportunities this summer. Otherwise, every kid within 15 miles would want to go to this camp.”
Wise estimates the total cost to put on Denver-CAMP at roughly $250,000. The DPS Foundation came through with a $100,000 grant to cover district expenses. The rest of the programming expenses are borne by the organizations providing the classes and field trips.
DPS officials acknowledge they have no quantifiable numbers to prove the investment will pay off in higher test scores for campers come fall. The children who participated last year in the camp’s initial incarnation at Morey Middle School in central Denver, were not tracked for academic results.
“We don’t follow these kids,” Baca-Sandoval said. “That would take funding and lots of time. But research shows that any child engaged in something during summer starts school more ready than those who had no structured activity during summer. The ‘summer slide’ is real. Being here, even though they’re having fun, keeps these children academically engaged.”
Organizations contributing to Denver-CAMP
America Scores
Arts Street
Boy Scouts Denver Area Council
Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver
Camp Fire Central Rockies Council
Catholic Charities
Denver Public Libraries
Denver Parks and Recreation Community Recreation
DPS Department of Extended Learning, Educational Outreach Program < >
Environmental Learning for Kids
Girl Scouts of Colorado
Girls Incorporated of Metro Denver
Integrated Rhythms
Net Results Junior Tennis
OpenWorld Learning
Science Matters in Colorado
Skinner Neighborhood Center
Skyhawks Sports Academy <>
DELL TechKnow < >
The Other Side Arts < >
Wings Over the Rockies Museum < >
Homeless students in DPS as of May 29, 2008
Grades:
ECE – 59
K – 156
1st – 146
2nd – 117
3rd – 106
4th – 101
5th – 91
6th – 77
7th – 75
8th – 77
9th – 84
10th – 71
11th – 45
12 – 49
GED – 48
Residence:
Shelter/transitional housing – 738
Doubled-up – 409
Motel – 153
Unsheltered – 1
Schools with 10 or more homeless students identified:
Gilpin K-8 – 67
Dora Moore K-8 – 63
Lowry – 53
Wyman – 51
Fairview – 38
East – 36
Swansea – 34
North – 29
Greenlee K-8 – 28
Colfax – 27
Hill – 27
Source: Educational Outreach Program, DPS
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